Heretofore, for the purpose of extending the life of jigs and tools, such as a cutting tool and a die, the surface of the jigs and tools has been coated with a hard coating of TiN, TiCN, TiAlN, or the like to increase the abrasion resistance.
In recent years, a coating having a laminated structure described in Patent Literatures 1 and 2, for example, has been proposed as a coating on the surface of a cutting tool. Specifically, Patent Literatures 1 and 2 disclose a laminated coating in which a coating A containing a solid solution of Mo and N, Mo2N, MoN, or a mixture thereof and a coating B containing Ti1-x-yAlxSiyN are alternatively laminated to include two or more coatings A and two or more coatings B and the layer thickness of each of the coating A and the coating B, the layer thickness ratio of the coating A to the coating B, and the gradient structure of the layer thickness ratio in the cross section in the lamination direction of the coatings are defined. Moreover, in the laminated coating, the coating A has lubricity and deposition resistance and is effective for an improvement of machining quality of a material to be cut, an increase in speed, and a reduction in cutting edge temperature in dry processing and the coating B is excellent in the balance between abrasion resistance and toughness.